Chapter 2 - The Screaming Silence
The gallery gasped in unison. Jonathan Vance reached out instantly to grab the boy’s small arm, his eyes widening behind his spectacles. "Leo, hush! Remember what the doctors told you—"
"No!" Leo wrenched his arm free from his uncle's grip. His pale brown hair was tousled, his grey eyes burning with an unholy, terrifying intensity that belonged to a child who had looked straight into the mouth of hell and survived.
He leaned over the railing, pointing his finger toward Clara. "She was protecting me!"
On the bench, Judge William Sterling leaned forward. Sterling was nearly seventy, his silver hair combed back, his dark silk judicial robes draping over his imposing frame like the wings of a vulture. His face was etched with the cold, unyielding authority of a man who believed the law was an instrument of order, not truth.
Judge Sterling slammed his heavy ivory gavel onto the sound block—CRACK!
"Silence in the court!" Sterling barked, his voice booming off the timbered ceiling. He glared down at the small boy in the witness box. "Master Vance, you are not called to testify at this time. The court will not tolerate emotional outbursts from a child!"
Clara Mercer lifted her tear-streaked face from her hands. Her swollen, bloodshot eyes met Leo’s. She shook her head slowly, a desperate, frantic plea in her gaze. Don't, her silent lips begged. Please, little master, don't say it.
"She didn't do it!" Leo shouted, his voice cracking into a ragged sob as he pressed his small chest against the wooden barrier. "She hid me in the grandfather clock when the dark man came into the study! She held her hand over my mouth so I wouldn't scream!"
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Judge Sterling stood up from his bench, his heavy black robes billowing around him. He stepped down toward the witness box, his massive, liver-spotted hand reaching out to grab Leo violently by the shoulder.
"Sit down now, boy!" Sterling growled, his iron grip digging deep into the six-year-old’s shoulder, pressing him down into the chair. "You are confused! You experienced a severe head trauma during your father's death! You are repeating nonsense!"
